Shattered Ones
by Alatariele C
Summary: What should have happened in Chapter 614... *SPOILER ALERT* FICLET on Hyuuga Neji's death and the aftermath of it. (If you look really really hard, you might just see a little NejiTen)


DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto – all rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Just a little more Chapter 614 headcanon stuff with Neji's death and the lack of Tenten panel space.

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_**Shattered Ones**_

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_The loneliest moment in someone's life  
is when they are watching  
their whole world fall apart  
and all they can do  
is stare blankly_

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The battle is bloody. A fast paced symphony with no window for hesitation. It is a cascade of gleaming metal made audible with the whistling howl of the wind behind them, screaming past the racing bodies hurtling from the sky while down below ninja fought to survive. It goes on, picking up speed as Madara and the scarred man beside him press the fast-forward button on the battlefield they are orchestrating.

Then somewhere between the flurries of the fight, everything stills and sound ceases to exist and with dramatic finality blood spurts into the sky in a crimson silhouette.

A weak, straining voice turns the sound on again in a torrential rush.

_"…Because… You called me a genius…" _

Brown eyes watch from behind the huddled forms of blonde hair and twilight blue. Follow as blood pools underneath the broken, impaled form. Dim as the green seal dissipates and leaves a porcelain forehead clear. And tears prick behind brown eyes because this blood belongs to her teammate and Tenten refuses to believe that Neji has fallen to their enemy.

The scarred man speaks, taunting Naruto for being unable to keep to his naïve promises. Did he not say he wouldn't let a single of his comrades die? Or perhaps, he goads – and his voice is grating because it is not just Naruto who hears them but everyone on this godforsaken battlefield – his words were nothing but childish daydreams, too weak to accept the truth of their world.

And Naruto, their beacon of hope, is losing his fire, while the rest of the eleven look like the world has been yanked from under their feet. It is etched, gouged in their faces by an unseen kunai, their utter shock and helplessness. But the sight is so new, so unexpected because Neji was fighting beside her a second ago and now he's down, three merciless stakes speared through him that Tenten - who has seen death before and knows how quickly a life can be snuffed out - is left speechless.

What hits her the most as she crosses the distance between them, leaping past ninja both dead and alive, crawling over the broken terrain with her heart sinking further and further down inside her, are his eyes.

His eyes, Byakugan eyes which should see everything, are sightless.

_No…_

There are tears still fresh on Hinata's cheeks. "Tenten-san, I'm sorry, I…"

_No…_

Beside her, Naruto is wide eyed and trembling.

_NO_

Neji does not move –not the slightest flutter from his lids. Tenten traces her wide eyes down his rigid form, across his brow and down his nose and against his lashes, hoping for a twitch, a flinch. Hoping for a faint thump, anything. Anything that betray a sign of life - but there is nothing.

Tenten chokes down a sob – the kunoichi inside Konoha's weapons mistress reminds her of her priorities and who they fight this battle for - and then Team Gai's spring flower acts.

"Help Naruto," Tenten says. Embodying in this moment the essence of a true shinobi, for if Naruto's morale shatters now, they fight for nothing. Hinata is the only one who can help him. "Go, Hinata. We can't lose him either."

Tenten strokes the hard steel of her kunai, promising to mourn the dead later. And so for now she only dries her tears with a trembling fist and lets the white-hot rage – because the masked man has crossed a line he never should have; because now this fight is hers and personal - flood through the icy numbness in her veins…

and fuel her battle-thirst instead.

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_"But I know, all I know, is that the end's beginning."_

-FIN-

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AUTHORS NOTES:

I actually wrote this a while ago but ehhhh... I wanted to make it nicer and all I could come up was this. Just a little take on what would have gone on in Tenten's head at Neji's death (which should NEVER have happened, like seriously Kishi wth?!)

Of course, I wanted to end it on an angry note. I leave it up to the reader's imagination what happens next.

Please R&R!

Alatariele C.  
- In collab. with NoeticSky


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